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The geographical setting of the Book of Mormon is the hypothetical location of the events described in the Book of Mormon, which is considered by secular historians to be fiction, although the book is regarded as a historical record by Latter Day Saints. According to Smith, an angel named Moroni told him "there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang."〔Joseph Smith—History 1:34.〕 Smith identifies these "inhabitants" as the "indians" of his own country.〔The Joseph Smith Papers, Vol. 1, Monday, 9 November 1835, pg. 88; see also “Church History”, ''Times and Seasons'', Vol. 3, No. 9, March 1, 1842, pp. 706-707〕 According to Smith, Moroni explained that the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was concomitant with the fulfillment of various ancient prophecies.〔(Joseph Smith – History 1:36-41 )〕 According to Latter Day Saint scripture, these divine pronouncements came to an end in the ancient land Cumorah,〔(Mormon 6:2-5 )〕 which some claim is the same land containing the "Hill Cumorah" near Joseph Smith's home in Palmyra, western New York〔(Doctrine and Covenants 128:20 )〕 (from whence the gold plates of the Book of Mormon were retrieved). The largest of the Latter Day Saints churches—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—has never endorsed an official position for the geography of the Book of Mormon, although some of its leaders have spoken of various possible locations over the years. There have been several attempts to identify the people in the Book of Mormon, who are dated in the text as living from 2500 BC to 400 AD. ==Joseph Smith's statements regarding Book of Mormon geography== It is not certain that Joseph Smith placed Book of Mormon lands in Central America. His published statements indicate that Book of Mormon peoples or their descendants, migrated from “the lake country of America” (near Lake Ontario) to Mexico and Central America.〔”Traits of the Mosaic History Found Among the Aztaeca Nations”, Joseph Smith, Editor, Times and Seasons, June 15, 1842, Volume 3, Number 16, pp 818-820.〕 In 1841 Joseph Smith read Stephens’ ''Incidents of Travel in Central America''. Smith held Stephens’ work in high regard and recommended it.〔Letter to John Bernhisel, 16 November 1841, ''Personal Writing of Joseph Smith'', compiled and edited by Dean C. Jessee, p. 533〕 However, Stephens’ bestseller did not change Smith’s position that Book of Mormon events took place in northern America, in lands occupied by the United States. In his “AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES” editorial of July, 1842, Joseph Smith corroborates wars described in the Book of Mormon with archaeological finds in northern America. Joseph Smith quotes Josiah Priest’s ''American Antiquities'' as follows:
Editor Joseph Smith then proceeds to comment (in the “American Antiquities” ''Times and Seasons'' article) that “The Book of Mormon speaks of ores, swords, cities, armies, &c....In regards to there being great wars, the following will shew ():” Joseph Smith then quotes from the Book of Mormon the account of the battle of Coriantumr and Shiz (found in Ether 15:12-16 of the current edition) and concludes with the following remarks:
Joseph Smith associates earth, timber and metal works found in northern America (presumably artifacts of mound builder societies) with implements and constructions described in the Book of Mormon.〔“AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES”, Joseph Smith, Editor, ''Times and Seasons'', July 15, 1842, Vol. 3, No 18, p. 858.〕 As much as Joseph Smith approved of Stephens’ work, he only makes minor mention of it, and then only to conclude in his “American Antiquities” editorial, that the peoples of Central America are tied historically to the Book of Mormon. Regarding the peoples of Central America, Joseph Smith's exact words are,
Smith does not actually say that Book of Mormon lands are to be found in Central America. This assertion came later in several unsigned newspaper articles, published in the fall of 1842. The use of first person plural (“we” and “us”) indicates that the articles may have been a collaborative effort.〔Coon, W Vincent, (“Book of Mormon geography articles signed by Joseph Smith” )〕 A recent “word-print” stylometry study of the unsigned articles reports they contain Joseph Smith’s vocabulary and average sentence lengths.〔De Groote, Michael, “Book of Mormon Geography article by Joseph Smith?”, ''MORMON TIMES'', 30 Oct. 2009; Toone, Trent, “FAIR Conference: Roper's take on Book of Mormon geography”, ''MORMON TIMES'', 6 Aug, 2010〕 One LDS apologist, however, argues that the statistical word-print analysis cannot identify everything that was edited in the articles and by whom. Without an endorsing signature we cannot tell the extent to which Joseph Smith agreed with the opinions expressed in the unsigned articles.〔Coon, W Vincent, (of Mormon geography articles signed by Joseph Smith” ), (“Book of Mormon Lands and the Times and Seasons Newspaper” )〕 In the March 15, 1842 edition of the ''Times and Seasons'', editor Joseph Smith informed readers, that he would endorse papers with his signature. Coon argues that the unsigned, 1842 articles contradict.〔Coon, W. Vincent, ''Choice Above All Other Lands – Book of Mormon Covenant Lands According to the Best Sources'', Ch. 4, “Unsigned Articles and a Popular Book”, pp. 72-104〕 One of the articles in question mentions “Joseph Smith” in the third person. This same article alleges that Lehi “landed a little south of the Isthmus of Darien” which would place Lehi’s landing on a western shore of South America.〔“FACTS ARE STUBORN THING.”, ''Times and Seasons'', September 15, 1842, Vol. 3, No 22, p.922.〕 The 1842 ''Times and Seasons'' editorials, written by Joseph Smith, are readily identified as they end with his “ED”. Joseph Smith had found it necessary to go into hiding for much of the fall that year. Though he was still official editor of the ''Times and Seasons'', it is doubtful that he was acting editor at the time in as much as he was keeping a low public profile and had been in hiding as Doctrine and Covenants 127:1 and 128:1 attest. LDS Church History Scholars believe that John Taylor may have served as “the acting editor for the ''Times and Seasons''” in Joseph's absence.〔See for example: Matthew Roper, “Limited Geography and the Book of Mormon: Historical Antecedents and Early Interpretations, section titled “John Taylor’s View”, BYU Maxwell Institute, 2004, pp. 225-76〕 In November 1842, Joseph Smith officially resigned as editor, explaining that, “The multiplicity of other business that daily devolves upon me, renders it impossible for me to do justice to a paper so widely circulated as the Times and Seasons.” John Taylor was then made official editor of the newspaper.〔“VALEDICTORY”, ''Times and Seasons'', November 15, 1842, Vol. 4, No 1〕 Published in the same issue as the unsigned “ZARAHEMLA” article (October 1842) with its anachronistic claims about the ruins of Quirigua, is a signed epistle to the church from the Mormon prophet in hiding. In Joseph Smith’s letter (canonized as the 128th section of the LDS Doctrine and Covenants) the Book of Mormon land Cumorah is referenced among other locations of significance near the Finger Lakes. Several earlier statements by Joseph Smith, indicate that events described in the Book of Mormon took place in lands occupied by the United States of America. In an 1833 letter to N.C. Saxton, Smith wrote:
The expression, “our western tribes of Indians” refers to Indian tribes who lived west, or were pushed west from the east coast of the United States by European expansion. LDS missionaries were sent to these peoples in the early days of the Church. Latter-day scripture refers to these peoples as “Lamanites”. Several passages in LDS scripture associate these native peoples with peoples of the Book of Mormon.〔, , 〕 LDS scripture teaches that the land of their Book of Mormon ancestors (now occupied by the United States of America) was ordained to become a land “free unto all...”.〔, 〕 The ancient land of their inheritance is, according to LDS scripture, associated with the land of “New Jerusalem.”.〔, , 〕 New Jerusalem, “the city of Zion” is, according to LDS scripture to be built in northern America.〔, 〕 On June 4, 1834, during the Zion's Camp trek through Illinois, Joseph Smith stated that the group was "wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as proof of its divine authenticity..."〔(See also Zelph)〕 Joseph Smith came to believe that the Maya ruins on the Yucatán Peninsula discovered in the late 1830s, offered evidence in support of the Book of Mormon's authenticity. A more recent inclusion in ''History of the Church'' proclaims the ruins were likely Nephite or belonging to “the ancient inhabitants of America treated of in the Book of Mormon”.〔("Did the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1842 Locate Book of Mormon Lands in Middle America?" ), by V. Garth Norman〕 In view of the position that ancient peoples migrated from the north into Mexico and Central America, the linking of Mesoamerican artifacts with “ancient inhabitants ...of ...the Book of Mormon” is not inconsistent with Joseph Smith's statements placing Book of Mormon lands in northern America. The ''History of the Church'' statement was inserted under the date June 25, 1842 and is not taken from any holograph writing of Joseph Smith's or records kept by his clerks. The date, in fact, is only a few weeks prior to the publication of the AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES editorial, citing northern American evidence of Book of Mormon history. The inclusion in ''History of the Church'' reads as follows:
Stephens brought to New York hundreds of artifacts from Mayan sites. Among these were sculptures and architectural remnants. Shortly after arriving in New York, most of these relics were lost when the building that housed them was destroyed by fire.〔Roberts, Jennifer, ''The Art Bulletin'', “Landscapes of Indifference; Robert Smithson and John Lloyd Stephens in Yucatan”, September 1, 2000.〕 According to , Nephite civilization came to an end near the year 384 A.D., with only a few Nephites surviving (), of which some or all were "hunted until they were destroyed" by the surviving tribal civilization. The Copan and Quirigua, sites in the Yucatan visited by Stephens and Catherwood contain artifacts that date more recent than Book of Mormon times. It has not been shown that any of Stephens’ artifacts date to Book of Mormon times, and Joseph Smith does not actually make this assertion. The first history of the Church was written in 1834 and 1835 by Oliver Cowdery, as a series of articles published serially in the Church's Messenger and Advocate. In this history, Cowdery stated that the final battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites occurred at the "Hill Cumorah," the very same Hill Cumorah in New York, where Joseph Smith said he obtained golden plates and other artifacts which were used to translate the Book of Mormon. These plates and artifacts were shown to only a few witnesses and never to the general public. The plates were later claimed to have been removed via divine means. Cowdery also identified the Jaredites' final battle as occurring in the same area as the Nephite/Lamanite final battle. Since Smith was an editor of the ''Messenger and Advocate'' and approved the history, all but proponents of limited South American and Mesoamerican geography theories believe it conclusively demonstrated Joseph Smith’s belief as well. In any case, evidence appears to show that Smith did not subscribe to the limited Mesoamerican or South American geography theories promoted by some LDS today.〔Oliver Cowdery, "Letter Seven," Messenger and Advocate, July 1835〕 Joseph Smith clearly advocated a northern American setting (near the Finger Lakes) for the Book of Mormon land Cumorah, hence . Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith’s mother, in her account of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, says that the divine messenger called the hill where the plates were deposited the “hill of Cumorah” meaning “hill of” the Book of Mormon land “Cumorah”. In another account, Mother Smith says that young Joseph, referred to the hill using this description.〔''The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith By His Mother, Edited by'' Scot Facer Proctor ''and'' Maurine Jensen Proctor, ''Bookcraft'', 1996, p. 107 n. 14; See also ''History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith'', p. 100〕 Joseph Smith’s preeminence as an authority on the Book of Mormon is evinced by the following account given by his mother: During our evening conversations, Joseph, would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities and buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them.〔History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith, pg 83〕 Efforts to associate Joseph Smith with the geographic notions of his contemporaries remain speculative. A note in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams, one of Joseph Smith's counsellors and scribes, asserts that Lehi's people landed in South America at thirty degrees south latitude.〔U.A.S. Newsletter (Provo, Utah: University Archaeological Society at Brigham Young University) January 30, 1963, p. 7.〕 Early LDS church leader, Orson Pratt also speculated that the Nephite landing site was on the coast of Chile near Valparaiso, but Pratt indicated that this hypothesis was arrived at by supposition, not divine revelation〔Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses (London, England: Albert Carrington, 1869), vol. 12; p. 342; Volume 14, p. 325, 1872〕 There is no proof that William’s unsigned, undated writing represents a revelation given to Joseph Smith. An official statement by the LDS Church discourages Church members from making too much of the Williams document.〔Frederick J. Pack (Chairman of the Gospel Doctrine Committee of the Church) and George D. Pyper, ''The Instructor'' 73, No. 4, 1938, pg 160.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Proposed Book of Mormon geographical setting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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